Chapter 222: Stay Dead

Noah drew in a slow breath, then he whispered.

“Aegis of Hades.”

Black smoke erupted around him like coiling mist, the darkness writhing up his limbs and hardening into armor.

The helm formed last, encasing his head in dark plates. The air grew heavier, the temperature in the cavern plummeting immediately.

The armor consumed a chunk of his remaining mana. He could feel it, a sharp dip in the reserves in his core, but the trade was worth it.

Raw power flooded his veins in return, his muscles tightening with new strength, his movements lighter and faster.

His heartbeat slowed to a steady rhythm, calm in the storm. The armor had boosted his physical stats.

“Alright,” he muttered, stepping forward until the cold water lapped at his boots. “Let’s finish this.”

He walked into the lake.

The water was colder than expected, but it parted easily around him, sliding off the armor like oil.

With a powerful push of his leg, he surged downward, his speed cutting through the depths like a spear.

The octopus stirred immediately, its immense body shifting.

Its many eyes glimmered faintly, locking on to him. Then came the roar, a guttural, ear-splitting sound that vibrated through the water, echoing off the cavern walls.

It struck first.

Thick, barbed spears of ink burst from its tentacles, each streaking towards him like black lances.

Noah twisted, Flash Step propelling him aside in flickers of shadow. The spears tore through where he had been an instant before, leaving sizzling trails of corrosive residue in the water.

He darted closer, cutting through the water like lightning.

When he was close enough to see the scarred texture of the creature’s hide, he cocked back his fist, mana crackling violently, and punched.

Void Bolt.

The blast launched from his knuckles like a cannonball, its spiraling darkness roaring forward through the lake.

But before it hit, the water surged.

The lake itself shifted as the octopus raised a wall of compressed water, redirecting the bolt harmlessly to the side.

The explosion detonated far behind it, sending waves crashing in every direction.

Noah’s eyes widened slightly. “Water affinity…”

Of course. The octopus hadn’t shown it before. It had waited, pretending to be a mere brute to lure him into its domain.

The realization came too late.

From below, the water twisted, forming enormous arms made of liquid that stretched upward towards him.

He flash stepped back, avoiding one, two, three swings, but there were more. Each time he evaded, another limb of water followed behind.

“Tch.”

He looked around, and almost froze.

The ink spears he had dodged earlier had spread into dark streams that now encircled him, solidifying into a massive cage.

A spherical barrier of swirling black ink trapped him, the water around him dimming to near-night.

He wasn’t escaping. Not easily.

For a moment, Noah considered retreating, but then, a cold grin spread across his lips.

“Fine,” he whispered. “Then only one of us gets to leave this lake alive.”

He vanished.

The octopus roared as Noah reappeared beside its massive body, his shadow sword cutting through the water like a beam of black light.

He slashed downward, once, twice, and each hit carved deep trenches across the beast’s skin.

It shrieked, thrashing violently. One of its huge tentacles slammed into him, sending Noah tumbling backward through the water.

His broken ribs screamed as he hit a rocky shelf, the impact jarring through his bones. Before he could recover, another tentacle came crashing down.

He vanished a second before impact.

When he reappeared, it was above the creature, his body twisting gracefully through the currents.

He swung his sword in a wide arc, the shadow edge blazing as it tore a deep gash along the creature’s back.

Blood, dark and thick, poured into the water like ink.

The creature’s screech was a thunderous vibration through the lake. It retaliated in blind fury, spraying streams of black ink in every direction.

The lake turned pitch black.

Noah raised his hands, casting Devour in front of him. A sphere of pure darkness flared to life, swallowing the approaching ink blasts.

Still, the pressure pushed him back several feet. His armor hissed under the corrosive onslaught, mana draining with every second.

When the barrage finally began to slow, Noah didn’t hesitate.

He flashed forward, streaking through the cloud of ink like a phantom.

The moment he found the creature’s bulk, he drove his sword deep into its flesh.

The octopus convulsed. Its tentacles whipped around him wildly, battering the surrounding water.

Noah gritted his teeth, pouring every last bit of strength into his arms. The sword sank deeper, the blade glowing with a faint purple pulse.

“Die.”

He ripped the weapon through the creature’s side in one clean, savage motion.

The result was immediate. A shudder ran through the monster, and then the light faded from its eyes.

Its body began to go limp, the tentacles unraveling, sinking slowly towards the bottom of the lake. Dark blood spread through the water like clouds of smoke.

Noah floated in silence. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

The cage of ink surrounding him began to crumble, dissipating into nothingness as the creature’s magic died.

He teleported out of the water, reappearing on the rocky shore. His boots touched down lightly, droplets of water sliding down his armor before evaporating instantly in the faint heat radiating from it.

He dismissed Aegis of Hades, letting the darkness melt away from his body.

His skin met the cool air again, and he rolled his shoulders. Not a drop of water clung to him. The armor had kept him perfectly dry.

Noah glanced back towards the lake, where the faint silhouette of the octopus’s corpse drifted slowly downward into the darkness.

“Rest there,” he muttered, “and stay dead.”

That was when a deep rumbling shuddered through the cavern.

The ground beneath him trembled violently, cracks spreading outward like spiderwebs. The lake churned, waves splashing violently against the edges.

Then, with a deep groan, the stone at both ends of the cavern began to shift.

The collapsed tunnels, both of them, were moving.

Chunks of rock fell away as the entrances reopened, revealing dark tunnels beyond.

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “So that’s how it is, huh? Kill the guardian, and the way forward opens.”

He stared into the nearest tunnel, a faint smile appearing on his face despite the pain still gnawing at him.

The fight had drained him more than he cared to admit, but it had also filled him with that dangerous thrill he could never quite shake. The rush of surviving the impossible.

“Two paths,” he murmured, studying both tunnels. “But only one leads deeper.”

He turned his gaze back to the water one last time. For a brief second, he thought he saw movement, but it was only the rippling current.

And so he turned, choosing the tunnel that carried him towards the minotaur.

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